“For people who already feel separate from the crowd, social rejection can be a form of validation,” says Johns Hopkins Carey Business School assistant professor Sharon Kim, the study’s lead author. “Rejection confirms for independent people what they already feel about themselves, that they’re not like others. For such people, that distinction is a positive one leading them to greater creativity.”

Social rejection has the opposite effect on people who value belonging to a group: It inhibits their cognitive ability. –Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write about a character who values being part of a group and their experience with rejection. Write the same story but this time with a character who already feels separate from the crowd.

Welcome to the Carnival of Creativity for April 28, 2013. All links will open in a new tab or window, so feel free to click through and leave some love in the comments. Once you close that window, you’ll be right back here for more linky goodness.

Retailers have known for decades that consumers prefer large selections and are lured by more options and greater variety. For example, when planning a family outing to an ice cream shop this coming weekend, a consumer would most likely choose the local shop offering 33 flavors over another in the neighborhood offering fewer options.

How universal is this demand for more choice? Are there instances when smaller selections are acceptable or even desirable? The authors find that consumer preference for larger selections decreased for psychologically distant decisions, such as when consumers have to make decisions that are six months away or while on vacation across the country. –Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Add to your character sketch. How does your character make decisions? Does he or she prefer a big selection or a small selection of the more popular choices? What are his or her “go to” choices in common decisions, like ice cream flavor, type of reading material, meal at restaurants, leisure activities, etc.?

Journaling Prompt: Do you prefer a large number of choices or a small number? Why? Does it vary on the type of decision?

Art Prompt: Too Many Choices

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how to deal with choice overload.

Stephen Holmboe wore checked trousers with a matching loose-fitting jacket designed in the high-buttoned style. His cravat was wide and flowing, matching the solid off-white of his shirt. In short, he was quite the swell—but a swell who would have been out of style even a decade before. Mr. Holmboe’s manner of dressing his brilliant golden blond hair continued this motif. It was longer than was currently fashionable, as were his bushy side-whiskers and mustache. Curtseying to Mr. Holmboe’s bow, Jenny felt rather as if she were being introduced to an enormous ambulatory dandelion. –The Buried Pyramid, Jane Linskold

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a descriptive paragraph for one of your characters.

Journaling Prompt: How do people describe you?

Art Prompt: Swell

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about a person with a emphasis on physical description.

Every day we have to make a number of choices, and it is not always easy to know what the right choice is. That is why we often seek advice from others before making decisions. The Internet provides us with entirely new ways of finding out what other people feel about different products and services….

The second experiment showed the same results as the first one. Participants who used their emotions were influenced, while those who followed their sense of logic were unaffected by reviewers who resembled themselves. –Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a short story about a character who has to make a big decision.

Journaling Prompt: How do you get advice when you are facing a decision?

Art Prompt: Decisions

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about techniques for using advice to come to a decision.